Sunday, April 8, 2012

(lt to rt: Falin (Tiki Kaimuki), Notch, Miles (Munktiki), and junkhauler, after a lite night of drinking at book signing)

So it started at the announcement of a book signing at La Luz De Jesus on March 7th 2009 for Jay Strongman's Tiki Mugs: Pulp Artifacts of Polynesian Pop.

Or wait, a couple of steps back, other mug artists had already done so, think the Bosko and Tiki Diablo Left Coast Oki Oki mug and Squids work with Gecko, and I had been invited by Squid to customize one of his Luau pigs for an online show and Miles Nielsen had re released my extremely limited Zombie (moai) with his incredible glaze work in the Munktiki store, but it had been sporadic team efforts with years in between, and i wanted more opportunities.Squid Luau Pigs show from a few years back seen here

So back to this line up of collabs....I had many wonderful conversations with Jay during his time writing the book, spurned on by Sven Kirsten's directing Jay my way. Jay seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the material and had quite a history of interest and participation in the "tiki" community. I took the opportunity in our conversations to point him to other artists who had not been added to the list yet, and to sharing my knowledge about the artform as a whole.

Jay Strongman

When the book was slated to be released, a book signing and event night was set up to be hosted at Wacko/La Luz De Jesus Gallery. Billy Shire has a had a long time relationship with "tiki" artists and has had shows featuring Bosko, Miles Thompson, Heather Watts, Crazy Al, etc., and was an early retail spot to pick up Bosko mugs. Tiki Farm was in the mix and supplied Mai Tai's for the event.

(I had fired and glazed some ceramic paper bags from a ceramic shop for us to customize with stickers and painter markers and drink the mai tais from at the event, pictured left Falin's and mine right.)

So there being the back story, I started calling some of the out of towner artists, some who i only knew from years of phone conversations, to urge them to make the trek down. Excitement built as Tiki Kaimuki, Notch, and Miles from Munktiki all made a plan to come on down. In that time, and those conversations, i mentioned collaborations to some of the artists, and they brought either a mold or greenware down with them.The signing was March 7th, I am just now releasing some that i finished and still have a few to fire. To this date, not sure if any of the other artists have worked on theirs, guess you could call it being on island time.Only one of the mugs from this initial grouping have been displayed/sold, the Notch Roberto Loco mug i customized and made into Notch-O-Bob, pictured below.

So this month, aside form the aforementioned Notch Bob mug, I am starting to put these collaboration mugs up for purchase on Ebay. many of these are out of production mugs by the other artists, so they are also the last chance to add that artists design to your collection.Last week the Tiki Tony X Ocea Otica Fatutu was up.....

Tony released different versions of his Fatutu, which can be seen here

This week the first of the four stacked skull Munktiki X Ocea Otica mugs...more can bee seen in auction description, but these were from a single skull salt shaker mold. I cast and stacked three to make a mug, trimming where needed to make a long cylindrical mug. The original salt n pepper shakers can be seen here . The auction for the below mug, posted today, April 8th, here

all four can be seen below:

Future releases will include a Tiki Tony Papua,below:

I also have one of his small shrunken heads that i hope to make into a ceramic style cocktail coupe.Tony's standard and handpainted editons can be seen here

The ceramic work is done, but have some lashing with shells to add, to a Tiki Kaimuki Skoai. I added a center bowl for the drink, turning the outer Kaimuki design into a weathered skin and stone version that will hold dry ice, releasing the "fog" form the eye areas.

And last, one i work on from time to time, and may take some time to finish, one of Notch's Ren Clark Tribute Severed Heads. His release can be seen here I am excited about styling out one of his limited, long out of production tributes the the gruesome mug; the original Ren Clark has come to be a "holy grail" mug amongst vintage mug collectors. Seen here is my progress so far on adding detail onto Notch's greenware.

In the end i hope this is the beginning of more collaborations. i so enjoy the time working on other peoples greenware, hopefully retaining their sense of design and, well, not screwing up thee work! Hopefully this year I will reconnect with some of the other artists i previously spoke to about collabs and to new artists just picking up the craft to release some special ceramic for the mug shelf.

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junkexotica@gmail.com

My work has been included in shows at such venues as Copro Nason Gallery, Gallery De La Cruz, Ink N Iron Festival, M Modern Gallery, Elroy Artspace, and various “tiki” themed events throughout California. I am a featured artist in author Jay Strongman’s book Tiki Mugs: Cult Artifacts of Polynesian Pop, and a photo, makeup, and cocktail collaborator with leading cocktail historian Jeff “Beachbum” Berry on his last two comprehensive books, Sippin Safari and Beachbum Berry REMIXED.
My work is a mish-mash of various forms, heavily leaning toward functional art in most cases.
My work also utilizes skills I have picked up in a 20-year career in film and television as a makeup effects artist and model/miniature painter. My creative and/or technical work can be seen in such films as Dante’s Peak, Gods and Monsters, Hellboy 2, Another Day in Paradise, Men in Black 2 and 3, Land of the Lost, numerous Marvel superhero films and television shows such as Outer Limits, Stargate , Space: Above and Beyond, and Alias, and music videos with bands such as DEVO, Primus, and Tool.